Eyewitness Reports: Can They Help Find New Animals?

This is not a new topic for me (or anyone who follows zoology or dabbles in cryptozoology) but it bears revisiting. Are reports of eyewitnesses, trained or untrained, of real use in finding new species, or are they overwhelmingly distractions? 

This comes up a a lot in cryptozoology, but also in mainstream zoology. One the one hand, there are eyewitness reports of things like the "Michigan Dogman" that, biologically, simply cannot exist. They must be dismisses as hoaxes or misidentifications, perhaps of bears or humans, Yet eyewitness descriptions are, and have always been, one of the three major ways zoologists are led to new animals. 

There are really ONLY three ways (countless variations, but three main categories of events) in which a new animal CAN be discovered by science. They are 1) discovery of body parts (bones, trophies, things made from the animal's skin, etc); 2) scientific surveys where scientists are in the field looking for every animal in a targeted area; and 3) eyewitness accounts (either fresh or traditional) that alert scientists or explorers to the possibility of an animal and inspire expeditions to find it. Most of Dr. Alan Rabinowitz's mammal discoveries, for example, came from asking local hunters about their animals. Sometimes they could show him a trophy: other times, they described an animal they had seen and told him, or guided him, to where it could be found. As I said, there are many variations on these categories, but the idea that eyewitness encounters have not been crucial to important animal discoveries is certainly not valid.

(By the way, if you are curious what Dr. Rabinowitz has been up to, he's in the fight of his life: battling cancer while trying to save the tigers of Myanmar.  I'm in awe of the man.)

Such sightings serve as a starting point for investigators: they are not "proof" of a creature, but they can prompt us to ask interesting questions which we can then approach with the modern tools of science. The sightings of the chevron-marked beaked whale called  Mesoplodon Species A are a good example, leading eventually to an identification (which frankly still seems not quite rock-solid to me, but I have to yield to experts like Robert Pitman and company here) of this animal as the adult form of the pygmy beaked whale. Cryptozoology, properly understood, is the application of zoology, scientifically and objectively, to the discovery of new animals: the distinction is that cryptozoology opens the aperture a bit to open files on cases which are not quite as well attested as those leading to, say, the finding of the Vu Quang ox and company

What is the eyewitness report is not followed by anything more substantial? At what point do we toss it out?

Let's say it's 1908 or so, and you open a sea serpent file based on the report made by two naturalists on the yacht Valhalla. Interesting sighting, just published in the Royal Society's Proceedings - perfectly logical thing for a scientist to do. Then you wait. Do you close the file if twenty years pass without the animal being found? Probably not - the sea is a big place. Fifty years? Maybe - 50 years without a sighting was the old IUCN standard for extinction. 100 years? Well, depressingly, it's entirely logical to close the file. (I haven't quite, but I recognize I'm on shaky ground). In other words, how long does it take for absence of evidence to become evidence of absence? Maybe there should be a 50-year standard, but the cahow or Bermuda petrel was rediscovered 300 years after extinction. Some of it depends on whether the habitat can be searched: small lakes have been thoroughly searched (and dynamited) and the hypothesis (in Karl Popper’s sense of the falsifiable hypothesis being the basis of science) that there were creatures in those lakes have been properly falsified. 

It would take enormous and unavailable resources to falsify the hypothesis "There is an unclassified North American ape," but you can do it in theory.  Can the lack of followup evidence be considered falsification, and after what period of time? You inevitably end up in the world of opinion. One of mine, for example, is that nearly a hundred years without hard evidence has downgraded the Loch Ness Monster from intriguing to pure myth. 

It’s not true that “my opinion is as good as yours” (see the Pitman example above).  But it’s also true that every researcher needs to use their own judgment – hopefully skeptically (in the proper sense of that word) – when evaluating witness reports. Witnesses can be right, they can be wrong, or somewhere in the middle. But I do hold they very often give science the starting point in discovery of a new animal.   

Matt Bille is a writer, historian, and naturalist living in Colorado Springs. He can be reached at mattsciwriter@protonmail.com. Website: www.mattbilleauthor.com.

Read Matt's book, Of Books and Beasts: A Cryptozoologist's Library. This unique reference offers a friendly skeptic's 400 reviews of books on cryptozoology, zoology, related sciences, and cryptozoological fiction.

Some Paleontology for Your Summer Reading

 People think of summer reading as beach thrillers and romances. Why not add a little science?  What walked on that beach a hundred million years before you did?

Dinosaurs: How They Lived and Evolved by Darren Naish and Paul Barrett  
Smithsonian, 2016: 224pp.
Naish, a paleozoologist, and Barrett, a paleontologist, have given us an altogether splendid treatment of what, as of just a couple of years ago (this business changes fast, especially regarding feathers) we know about dinosaurs.

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a LostWorld by Steve Brusatte
William Morrow, New York, 2018. 404pp.
In Rise and Fall, the latest in dinosaur science is presented in a highly readable science book doubling as a rip-roaring adventure tale. The story of dinosaurs, not just as fossils but as real animals, is masterfully presented

Fossil Legends of the First Americans by Adrienne Mayor
Princeton University Press (May 1, 2005) 488 pages
 Mayor is a scholar of the overlooked chapters of history and prehistory, such as historical Amazons and early automata. Here she asks what Native Americans thought of the fossils in fossil-rich North America, and uncovers a treasure trove of anecdotes, myths, and fossils.

Prehistoric Animals.  Text by Joseph Augusta, illustrated by Zdenek Burian. Translated by Greta Hort. Spring Books, London. (Reviewed edition is 1963: numerous versions and reprints exist.).
While much of the knowledge in this book is outdated, its influence and the excellence of the writing and illustrations enthralled a generation of professional, student, and public readers. Dr. Augusta's text is fine and the 60 plates, many in color, by the great Zdenek Burian are classic.

The Secret History of Sharks: The Rise of the Ocean’s Most Fearsome Predators

467 pp., Ballantine, 2024

John Long

Dr. John Long, an Australian paleontologist, has gifted us with the most complete and up to date book on shark evolution for non-specialists. Written in an informal but precise style, the book is information-packed, clear, and an enjoyable read if you’re into this ancient lineage of apex predators.

Long explains the origin of sharks is still a little fuzzy, but by 400 MYA the sharks had established a lineage that continues today: older than reptiles, mammals, flowers, or trees. While he tells many interesting stories of fieldwork, nothing tops the way Chinese scientists found the oldest near-complete shark, Sehnacanthus. They were relaxing, “play-fighting,” and one “kung-fu kicked another into a roadside cliff face.” A rock fell down, split open, and there it was.

As a placoderm enthusiast, I especially enjoyed the chapter dedicated to the competition of the Devonian era. Hundreds of species of armored fish, most famously the awesome “dark lord” Dunkleosteus terrelli, ruled the Age of Fishes, but Long shows the sharks were doing more than staying small and keeping a low profile. Long before the twin extinctions that ended the era and the placoderms, they were growing and diversifying, with the 20-foot Ctenacanthus rivaling Dunkleosteus itself in size. (Long notes the traditional sizing of the Dunk at up to 29 feet and the recent Engelman estimate of closer to 14 feet.)

After the Devonian, the sharks flourished, using what Long calls its superpowers. These include the development of electroreception and the evolutionary flexibility to develop new types of scales, teeth, and other features. Sharks also invaded freshwater: there are few freshwater sharks today, but at one time they were numerous and varied. The bizarre tooth-whorl Heliocoprion arose some 270 MYA. 

The larger marine reptiles of the Mesozoic were the next direct challenge. Some were bigger than any shark, but the air-breathers couldn’t invade the deeps. The first lamniform, of the group including the modern great white, appeared in this era. The sharks even developed some very large species and spun off the rays as a new type. When the mosasaurs vanished after the K-Pg impact, the adaptive sharks wriggled through yet another extinction event and diversified again, producing the wobbegongs and hammerheads. They also grew bigger, culminating in “the Meg.” Otodus megalodon was the all-time shark king from 23-3.6 MYA. However, the Meg was ill-adapted to a cooling of the oceans and/or and the move of the baleen whales to polar regions. It was in hunting Meg teeth as a boy that Long first caught the paleontology bug, so I suppose you can thank the Meg for this excellent book.

Long traces the rise of “the most sharky shark,” the great white, and spends a chapter on what we do and don’t know about this awesome creature. He rejects some of the upper claims (the famed Deep Blue may be closer to 17 feet than the claimed 21) but accepts an older 21-foot measurement. He explores the diversity of the modern sharks, over 500 species (not counting skates and rays), not overlooking the most numerous but often-ignored group, the deep-water catsharks.

Long covers in the last chapters the clash – and cooperation -of sharks and humans, the threats to sharks, and the many things we learn from them. He concludes, “If we can save the oceans and save the sharks, we can save the world.” He finishes off the book in exemplary fashion with detailed references, aa glossary, and an index. The well-chosen black and white photos and drawings illustrations complete this apex predator of modern shark books.  

Matt Bille is a writer, historian, and naturalist living in Colorado Springs. He can be reached at mattsciwriter@protonmail.com. Website: www.mattbilleauthor.com.

Read Matt's book, Of Books and Beasts: A Cryptozoologist's Library. This unique reference offers a friendly skeptic's 400 reviews of books on cryptozoology, zoology, related sciences, and cryptozoological fiction.

A Dip into Fiction : Three Tales of Jack Reacher

 Fiction: Prowling the Reacher universe 

I always liked Jack Reacher. Sure, sometimes he’s impossibly tough and smart. But Lee Child managed to make him human all the same, and his adversaries and their plots are an interesting, varied, and sometimes very original lot.  Add in the cool information on the military and law enforcement, and the result is almost always a good read.   (The ones where he’s just the co-author lack an edge somehow.) I like the TV series, after it corrected for excess explicit gore of the first season. Alan Ritchson embodies Reacher as perfectly as Christopher Reeve did Superman, which is the highest praise I can offer. The two Tom Cruise movies are good action flicks in their own right, but Reacher's size and intimidation factor is important to the stories.

I re-read three Reachers this year, and I thought I’d share. The links are to the editions I read.

Blue Moon: 

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Moon-Jack-Reacher-Novel/dp/039959356X

I should have liked this more than I did. As Reacher visits the town where his father was born and of course crosses paths with bad guys, we learn more about Jack’s family. Also of interest: it includes twists like average citizens rising to heroics, interesting villains with a terrifying scheme that might exist somewhere in real life, Reacher playing matchmaker (if inadvertently) instead of lover to the female lead, and some intriguing psychology. It didn’t quite grip me, but it’s still good. An item at the end should have been mentioned at least a bit in subsequent books but isn’t. Hmm. 

Night School: 

https://www.amazon.com/Night-School-Jack-Reacher-Novel/dp/0804178828/

A lot of detective work for Reacher, which is always nice. While in the Army, he has to solve a sniper attack on the French president before more world leaders are targeted. The diversion into the English criminal world is something he didn’t expect, but he flows with it. Reacher has to figure out, with many twists and some dead ends, who had motive, money, and skills to arrange a complicated scheme to support a single narrow objective – and what exactly that objective is. Along the way we get my favorite Reacher line: when a compatriot is killed next to Reacher, and someone asks about the blood and brains on his jacket, Reacher says, “Just a guy I used to know.” Nitpick: the physical freak who runs the English gang would never get a chance to disappear into crime: he’d be famous, a medical study from his early teens and a constant subject of press coverage. 

The Hard Way:

https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Way-Jack-Reacher/dp/0440246008/ 

One of my top Reacher picks, this one offers a lot of misdirection and twists as Reacher happens (of course) to be in the right place and time to be pulled into in an apparent kidnapping. The standard once-a-book Reacher mistake was a huge one, although it was buffered by the reasons he made it. Nitpick: the ease with which the bad guys took over a house protected by armed good guys and captured everyone needed to be explained.   As to the personal side: Reacher always leaves at the end, of course, and he’s always upfront with the “Reacher girl,” but this was the only time it felt wrong. He at least thought about doing things with his ex-FBI lover when the case was over, and their bond was genuinely romantic for a bit. Her being a decade older and their sexual connection being uniquely tender and memorable for Reacher (details not given) made you hope he’d stick around a while or at least promise visits.  There was, presumably, a farewell discussion that's not related on page. I'd like to have read it.

Matt Bille is a writer, aerospace consultant, naturalist, and historian based in Colorado Springs.  His last novel, Death by Legend, is cryptozoological horror tale set in modern Los Angeles. His scientific thriller Apex Predator will be out in 2026 from Blackstone Publishing.

Matt Bille's Author Web Page

The Strangest Human Spaceflight Ideas

 Next Man Up? The Weirdest Piloted Rocket Ideas

Historical programs and events don’t only provide us further ideas. They provide warnings. Ever since the ides of humans in space left the science fiction stage and people started designing rockets to support human life, there have been new ideas and designs. Some have been brilliant. Some haven’t. Some make one wonder whether the engineers were ever tested for controlled substances.

For this essay, let’s call our astronaut “Buster,” the crash dummy from MythBusters. Buster was blown up and burned when re-creating the perhaps-mythical flight of the Chinese sage Wan Ho, who tried to fly a winged chair propelled by gunpowder rockets. So he’s perfect for this job.

The first half of spaceflight is getting the astronaut to space. There are two basic ideas. One is a capsule mounted on an expendable or reusable booster. It’s easier technically, and it’s long been the default: the latest capsules even manage to look spiffy. The piloted spaceplane is technically much more difficult and complex, and was never pulled off until the U.S. Space Shuttle. Smaller ones may fly soon.

That said, aerospace engineers are an imaginative bunch, and in the early years they put that imagination on the drawing boards. The first ideas came from people with imagination but not the technology to test it out. Pioneering space thinker Konstantin Tsiolkovsky designed a large human-carrying rocket ship. Suborbital rocket ideas included the “Silverbird” space plane by Germans Eugen Sänger and Irene Bredt in the late 1930s. It was, if not practical, a beautiful piece of speculative design: the Soviets studied a copy in 1946, and Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB) looked again in 1985. A piloted version of the V-2 was bandied about at Peenemunde: it could have been tested, but was not, given the wartime priorities and the fact Buster probably would have had to be ordered to test it at gunpoint.  

All astronauts to date have been launched using chemically-fueled rockets, a technology originally developed for unguided rockets and then missiles. A “manned missile” was a good approximation of the first spaceship concepts, like the Air Force’s Man in Space Soonest (MISS) (canceled in favor of Project Mercury). 

USAF image of MISS

After the Air Force and NASA had staked out their roles in human spaceflight, the Navy remained interested. They apparently decided all the rational ideas were taken, and their engineers/contractors explored taking the “manned missile” term literally, firing astronauts from the missile launch tubes of submarines. This might have been the unlikeliest launcher since Wan Ho’s. Buster would enter a tiny capsule on top of a modified Polaris and be shot into space. Getting a proper thrust to weight ratio was probably impossible, and the ride would have been very harsh. The justification for launching in the first place was meager: with no room for any significant payload except Buster, there wasn’t much he could do except perhaps augment the crew of a larger ship or station. I know there are illustrations of this, but I can’t find one.

Launching a piloted craft from a gun was the idea in Jules’ Verne’s From The Earth to the Moon. Kenneth Anderson’s novel Nemo describes how this might have been built as a real project, although the end would be a flattened pile of junk not many miles from the launch site.  

Image: Verne’s Columbiad launch

Robert Heinlein, in his well-researched 1947 The Man Who Sold the Moon, sent rockets up with the help of an electromagnetic catapult built over the cog railway route on Pikes Peak. Versions of that idea have been floated ever since, but no hardware has been built. (Your historian was one of the people who was far too optimistic about this, publishing a paper subtitled, “A Launch Solution on the Way to Reality.”) 

We're in a very busy time for human spaceflight, including tourist and other commercial flight. Stranger ideas may follow!

Read Matt's latest nonfiction book, Of Books and Beasts: A Cryptozoologist's Library. This unique reference offers a friendly skeptic's 400 reviews of books on cryptozoology, zoology, related sciences, and cryptozoological fiction. His next novel. the cryptozoological horror tale Death by Legend, has just hit the shelves!